Consider this starting material for Celiac Disease Research

While over 3 million Americans have Celiac Disease, only 20% are diagnosed. Celiac Disease has become more and more widespread in the last ten years in the diagnosis and global awareness.

It is common knowledge that the best "treatment" for this disease is to follow a strict gluten-free diet. As more light has been shed on Celiac Disease in the last ten years, it has become easier to find gluten-free groceries and more comprehensive labeling. However, this lifestyle can become expensive and still isn't as accessible as some would like to see. "Gluten digestion supplements" typically contain a combination of enzymes and have become available for those that struggle with Celiac Disease. The supplements' effectiveness has gone unproven, and some think the pills' ability to target the proteins in gluten responsible for eliciting an immune response isn't constructive.

How Does Celiac Disease Work in the Immune System?

Celiac Disease is an immune response to gluten, a protein component of wheat rich in proline and glutamine residues. The gliadin proteins in wheat and other gluten-containing grains are particularly hard for the digestive system to break down into individual amino acids due to the high proportion of proline and glutamine.

While most people are able to digest these peptides, when someone with Celiac Disease ingests gluten, CD4+ T cells mistakenly identify the protein as a pathogen and trigger the immune response in the small intestine, leading to diarrhea, malabsorption of nutrients, inflammation, and characteristic histologic changes in the lumen.

The reason some people can digest gluten while others cannot has been strongly linked to HLA-DQ2.5, which is composed of a DQ alpha chain of DQA*05:01 and a beta chain of DQB*02:01. While approximately 30% of the population has the DQ2 haplotype, only about 1% of the population will develop Celiac Disease. Exactly what triggers Celiac Disease in those predisposed to it is unknown, although research has pointed to certain environmental factors, bacteria, and infections.

Celiac Disease is also related to a host of health issues, including anemia, colitis, thyroid disease, peripheral neuropathy, and unexplained infertility.

Celiac Disease PBMC

Antibodies specific for Transglutaminase are commonly found in the serum of Celiac patients and used in diagnosing Celiac Disease. While Celiac Disease can be controlled by adhering to a gluten-free diet, there is interest in developing treatments that would address the underlying immune response.

Our Celiac Disease PBMC can be your starting point for understanding the immune response to gluten.

The Future of Celiac Disease Treatments

There are currently dozens of Celiac Disease therapies in pre-clinical and phase 1–3 trials. Potential treatments range from enzyme-based and microbe-based therapies to monoclonal antibodies and oral peptides to inhibitors for IL-15, DQ2/DQ8, and TG2.

This post originally appeared on the Cellero blog.